EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Spirits of the Forest

Cemetery in Forest Sanctuary
Smichka Field Station, Primorski Krai, Far East Russia

Explanation:  This week we are on the hunt for spirits of the forest.  

Many cultures around the world set aside tracts of forests for graveyards, cemeteries, and special resting places for ancestors.  This week we take a short tour of such selected spots around the world.

But first, what are the ecological -- and cultural -- implications of such sites?

One obvious factor is that they serve to preserve at least small groves of native or primary forest which can provide habitat for some wildlife, including many rare and endemic species of plants.  We explored this relationship in a previous EPOW. 

In some cultures, sacred groves or spirit groves are to be preserved to harbor the souls of those who passed on.  Often, such forest reserves provide habitat for creatures of the night such as bats and owls ... especially the owls, whose sombrous songs can be interpreted as the wails or calls of the spirits of the dead.  Protecting forest groves thereby also provides some habitat for wildlife -- and thus providing both cultural and ecological benefits.  

Let's take a look at some examples around the world:

This week's main photo is of a cemetery in the Russian Far East along the coast of the Sea of Japan. The area also is a forest research field station which benefits from its protection and holds prime examples of woodlands of Mongolian oak (Quercus mongolica), Dahurian birch (Betula davurica), Manshurian birch (Betula manshurica), Chinese aspen (Populus davidiana), alder (Alnus crispa ssp. maximowiczii), and other plants.  In this grove I encountered Eurasian cuckoo, Oriental cuckoo, Oriental greenfinch, great tit, and other birds.  

   
These are two sets of graves -- refined and crude -- in the community forest land just outside the remote village of Botuali in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  To reach this site took many days' travel by air, four-wheel drive, river pirogue, and trekking overland.  The forest reserved for this dispersed graveyard held many species of hornbills, weaver finches, owls, and other wildlife.  

Throughout India exist many examples where local villages have preserved massive fig trees (Ficus spp.) which serve as important sacred sites with effigies of Hindu gods or as resting places for souls of the departed.  This example is the abandoned village of Barigadi within Panna National Park of central India.  This fig tree marks the location of a sacred temple.  Such trees provide fruits and cover for many species of birds including parakeets, ioras, and hornbills.

 
An example from northeast India. This is the sacred grove called Ka Khlan Kyntang near the village of Mawrhlang, in the East Khasi Hills in the state of Meghalaya.  The local Khasi culture has preserved this 50-hectare (124-acre) grove of khasru oak trees (Quercus semicarpifolia) greater than 200 years old.  They use this forest for prayers and religious rites.  Although there are no graves here per se, the Khasis preserve this forest "because it was created by God."  Many of the oaks are festooned by orchid epiphytes not found in the surrounding disturbed environment.

Western cultures, too, preserve old trees and forest groves for spiritual purposes.
Here is one example -- a very dispersed cemetery in a southern pine forest outside Opelika, Alabama, in southeast United States.  Again, such cultural uses also serve to provide some measure of conservation of forests and their wildlife inhabitants.